Pillow with an incised parrot on a ring-punched ground

The buff color shown inside the incised and punched passages on this pillow is overshadowed by the large creamy area which resulted from glazing over white slip. The parrot on a peony branch in the center is framed by petals as well as floral scrolls to the sides. About ten kiln sites in the area where Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi meet were found to have employed the technique which combined incising with ring-punching for decoration. Bean-shaped pillows, with the main motif on a ring-punched background, were mostly produced at Mixian in Henan. Motifs consisting of ducks, flowers, sheep, and parrots, were set off by floral patterns on the sides. A work nearly identical to this piece from the Mixian site was dated to the early Northern Song (KG 1995.6: 565, pls. 6, 8).